Boswell, when he speaks of his Life of Johnson, calls it my magnum opus, but it may more properly be called his opera, for it is truly a composition founded on a true story, in which there is a hero with a number of subordinate characters, and an alternate succession of recitative and airs of various tone and effect, all however in delightful animation.
ATTRIBUTION:
James Boswell (1740–1795), Scottish author. Originally published in Public Advertiser, June 18, 1791. Boswell The Great Biographer, June 18, 1791, p. 146, McGraw-Hill (1989).
Boswell’s own “puff,” planted to advertise his work.
